Some Texas lawmakers want to legalize gambling. What would that mean for small Oklahoma towns that have large casino facilities? Economists say if that happens casinos on the Texas – Oklahoma border could see a big drop in business.
An online banner ad on the Austin American-Statesman’s website April 19 made us eager to try our luck.
“Thank you Texas,” says a color postcard featuring slot machines and addressed to the state of Texas. The ad, sponsored by a group that seeks to legalize slot machines in Texas, features three messages — New Mexico thanking Texas for “your” $27 million and Louisiana and Oklahoma each offering thanks for “your” $1 billion.
Text below the postcards states: “Texans spend $2.5 billion gambling in our neighboring states every year.”
That’s a lot of quarters. Is it right?
We asked Texans for Economic Development, the ad’s sponsor, for elaboration. The group, consisting of horse racing interests, wants Texas lawmakers to ask voters to permit slot machines at 13 in-state horse and greyhound tracks and three Indian reservations.
Its spokesman, Mike Lavigne, passed along a July 7, 2010, report prepared for the group by TXP, an Austin economic policy consulting group, stating that in 2009, Texans spent $2.7 billion on gaming and related activities in nearby states.
The report says Texans gambled most of that — $2.57 billion — immediate neighbors-with-casinos: Oklahoma, where the report says Texans threw down nearly $1.2 billion; Louisiana, about $1.1 billion; and New Mexico, $27 million. The state-by-state figures were based on various sources “including state gaming commissions, primary field research, convention and visitors bureaus … and other academic studies,” the report says.
By Sonny Long
Calhoun County Sheriff B.B. Browning would like to see slot machines and casinos in Texas.
“What’s the hold up?” asked the sheriff. “We should have done this a long time ago.”
The hold up has been the state Legislature and supporters of extending gambling in Texas wanting lawmakers to let the people decide.
Expansion of gambling to include slot machines at existing horse tracks, dog tracks and Indian reservations and the construction of eight destination casinos would infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into an ailing Texas economy, supporters claim.
“I’d rather spend my gambling money in Texas so it stays here,” said Victoria landscaper Jonathan Leal. “Plus it saves me a long drive.”
Win for Texas, a pro-gambling organization, released a study earlier this spring that said 77,500 new, permanent jobs would be created if slots are allowed at Texas horse tracks, greyhound tracks and recognized Indian reservations.
SAN ANGELO, Texas — As the Texas Legislature tries to plug a gaping budget hole, all reasonable ideas should be on the table.
That includes allowing casino gambling, which would add an estimated $3 billion in state revenues in the next biennium, but it looks like the game is rigged to keep the issue out of the mix.
Testimony is occurring this week in a Texas House of Representatives committee, but the bill may not even get a look in the Senate.
San Angelo’s state Sen. Robert Duncan heads the Committee on State Affairs that would hear testimony and decide whether to send the measure to the full Senate, and he is reluctant to schedule hearings. Duncan, who opposes casino gambling, said the bill doesn’t have the support of two-thirds of senators, the threshold for bringing an issue up for a vote.
San Angelo state Rep. Drew Darby also opposes the bill.
We respect our lawmakers’ views, but the bill doesn’t call for allowing an expansion of gambling. Rather, it would put the issue before voters, who would decide whether slot machines and other gambling would be allowed at seven destination casinos, three Indian reservations and 13 horse and dog tracks.
Legislators should send the issue to Texans and then start the debate, which has strong arguments on both sides. Social costs come with all gaming, including tempting wagers by people who can’t afford to make them. The other side will argue that Texans already are traveling to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana to gamble and that their own state should benefit from that activity.
There are many more points to be made, but they won’t be heard unless two-thirds of senators and representatives vote to put the issue on the ballot. Considering the impact of budget cuts on state services, it makes great sense to allow Texans to decide whether casino gambling is an acceptable way to help the state cope with its budget crisis.
By David Barron
Even with a new business partner and improved average attendance and betting totals, some circumstances at Sam Houston Race Park are in the same mode as they have been for years.
Track officials, horsemen and bettors are waiting for the Texas Legislature to decide if it will allow voters to vote on expanded gaming options. Until then, even the most optimistic forecasts from Andrea Young, Sam Houston’s president, come with a note of caution.
“Until the day (legislation) happens, public perception will be that we are facing an uphill battle, because we are,” Young said. “But are we alive? Absolutely.”
With approval this month by the Texas Racing Commission, Sam Houston now is owned by Maxxam, the track’s longtime owners, and Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns, operates or has interests in 25 tracks and casinos in 16 states and Canada.
Penn National’s share of the PM Texas L.L.C. partnership is owned by its subsidiary Houston Gaming Ventures, which indicates the company’s plans for its Houston investment.
“We will work collaboratively to enhance the existing pari-mutuel operations,” company spokesman Richard Land said. “And we think, given the state of the economy, that it should be a priority to implement slot machines at existing pari-mutuel facilities in Texas.”
By Diana Crawford
Amarillo, Texas – Lawmakers in Austin could take away horse racing licenses from operators who aren’t using them. Revoking idle licenses could put plans for a horse track in Amarillo to a stop, because there is no racing being done, much less a track being built.
The racing license in Amarillo is owned by Drew Alexander. He also has a piece of land just outside the city limits, to put the track, which he says won’t be built until some things change.
Alexander explains, “What the racing commission would like to see is everybody that has a license go out and build a track. They don’t seem to understand that you can’t do that today because you would be broke. Race tracks aren’t making any money. Nothing will save them except the additional gaming, the additional gambling with slot machines.”
Alexander is pushing for the legalization of gambling in Texas because he says slot machines will keep horse tracks in business, bring jobs, and money for education.
By Arthur Granado
CORPUS CHRISTI — Much has been said about the issue of legalizing gambling in Texas during this legislative session. The anti-gaming factions have produced their arguments against and the pro- gaming supporters have done the same with their arguments for. However, left out in these arguments, for the most part, have been the results of some key studies, as well as the need to “localize” the argument in terms of individual community economic and employment needs.
First, the greater Baltimore Committee, in conjunction with the University of Maryland, looked at data from other existing gaming jurisdictions and concluded that “casinos are not likely to have a substantial impact on crime and other social problems.”
Secondly, according to research conducted for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, some of the most common indicators of social welfare improved with the advent of gaming. Further, a report by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found those communities nearest to casinos experienced a 12 percent to 17 percent drop in welfare payments, unemployment rates and unemployment insurance premiums after the introduction of casino gaming.
Third, a comprehensive survey of casino employees, conducted by PricewaterhouseCooper of 178,000 employees, found that 16 percent had used their casino jobs to replace unemployment benefits, 63 percent had improved their access to health care benefits, 43 percent had better access to day care for their children, 65 percent had been able to develop new job skills as a result of their employment and 78 percent indicated that their employer provided them with training to perform their job.
Fourth, in other research funded by the gambling study commission, Adam Rose, an economist at Penn State University, concluded: “A new casino, of even limited attractiveness, placed in a market that is not already saturated, will yield positive economic benefits on net to its host economy.” The question of the value of gaming to the City of Corpus Christi needs to be evaluated locally. We need jobs, we need more tourism-attractive activities, our pari-mutuel track needs revenue sources to continue its improvement and success opportunities and we need “prosperity” to solve the bulk of the primary community issues we face today.
AUSTIN (KYTX) – Lyle Lovett is a well-known singer and songwriter, something he’s less known for, raising and racing horses. At the capitol Thursday, he publicly backed placing slot machines at Texas racetracks.
Lovett was one of hundreds of horseman at the state capitol rallying for a pair gambling bills. The bills would allow Texans to vote on putting slots at racetracks and Indian reservations.
“Win for Texas” is a group pushing the legislation. They said slots would generate a half-a-billion dollars for the state coffers in just the first two years. But opponents argued the money won’t come in time to help the current budget crisis and worry about it’s impact on the poor.
Earlier this week, a house committee heard hours of testimony on more than a dozen gambling bills. The senator charged with finding $5-billion of non-tax revenue says there’s not enough support for gambling. Authors of the bills hope testimony will change his mind.
“This is a significant source of non-tax revenue,” said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. “A half billion dollars is a lot of money.”
By Tim Eaton
A rally of people supporting slot machines at racetracks drew several hundred people to the Capitol today.
Singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett joined the cause – along with several horses and greyhounds – as two state senators spoke in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 33 and House Joint Resolution 111.
Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, told the crowd that the measures would be a money-maker for Texas as it suffers from a massive budget shortfall.
Win for Texas, the group pushing for slots at tracks, has said that slot machines at 13 tracks in Texas would generate more than $3 billion a year in revenue. At the group’s proposed tax rate of 30 percent, the taxes coming into the state would be about $921 million a year by 2013.
By Christy Hoppe
AUSTIN — Singer Lyle Lovett was among those making a pitch for allowing slot machines at Texas racetracks Thursday, part of a growing wave of rallies at the Capitol underscoring severe budget cuts.
About 500 horse and dog supporters turned out to press lawmakers to allow slot machines at the state’s existing tracks as a way to revive the racing industry and bring $1 billion a year to state government.
Lovett held a symbolic check made out to the citizens of Texas for $538 million — the amount that the comptroller estimated could be raised by slot machines by next year.